


distractions and alternatives

by shadoedseptmbr



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Birthday, Earthborn (Mass Effect), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 14:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4352237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadoedseptmbr/pseuds/shadoedseptmbr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>beer is a good distraction, fire on a space ship is probably a bad thing, birthdays come and go but the alternative is worse</p>
            </blockquote>





	distractions and alternatives

Aedan Shepard learned early into her Alliance career that the best way to avoid her birthday, was just to give into it. Buy a round or twenty at the bar, give everyone a “gosh, thanks” around the third round and then disappear. 

Not that she has any angst about getting older. Better than the alternative. 

No, really. She's got no terrible memories to run from. The nuns at the orphanage Aedan got transferred to when she was old enough to know what a birthday was always scraped together enough sugar and flour and cheap shortening to make cupcakes, although if there was more than one birthday in a week everyone celebrated together on Wednesday before chapel. “Because we are all God’s children and he likes to see us happy and parties should be shared!”

She was five, the only time she had a whole day to herself. Some charitable minded organization had put together backpacks for the nuns to give out on special occasions with a new pair of jeans that almost fit, a couple of corporate t-shirts, a stuffed yellow lamb, some hair bands, a picturebook about Mary and angels, and a music chip that played the same six chipper songs about Jesus over and over again. There’d been jealous eyes that year. Even though most of them got packs, too, eventually. The lamb had disappeared first. 

She managed to keep a hold of the backpack until she’d been in the Reds a couple of years and could scrape enough credits to replace the faded blue, pink, and green patchwork with something that blended a little better. 

Jaxson, who’d lived at the orphanage a couple of years with her before he’d gone to his Gran in the city, had bought her a strawberry ice in half an orange from a vendor a few blocks south of the old Capitol the year she turned 13. “This was your day, right?” His Gran had died the year before and he’d gone to the Reds instead of letting them put him back in the system. He had a shaved streak of red and black in his curly brown hair and freckles everywhere. 

Anderson had wanted to throw her a party after he unscrambled her records. He’d tried once to have it at his house and she’d managed to find excuses. “Exams coming up. You know I’ve gotta cram, sir.” 

He had let her put him off with a promise, “I’ll be back Earthside next month.”

“Great. I ‘ll see you then.” 

Shepard learned the bar trick in the Academy. Not like she had much else to spend her cadet pay on, anyway. Buy some beer, leave a chit with the bartender, move on. Her first crewmates and marines, hell even N’s liked beer. 

She wasn't expecting on being the Normandy to screw everything up. Well…not screw up, no. Just…there wasn’t a bar and they were too busy what with Saren and Reapers and all to go blow a weekend in some turfside dive. And of course it was Anderson. Routine call, checking in, and “By the way, Shepard…Happy Birthday, what are you? 28?”

Goddammit, Anderson. “Yes, sir. Thanks.”

He had the fucking audacity to grin at her. “Better than the alternative, kid.”

When Shepard slides down to the mess an hour later she's almost praying for a sensible reaction. _Just a cup of coffee, all I want is coffee and…No luck. No luck at all on this fucked up rotation._ Ashley and Joker are discussing if they can light up candles while Liara nods, fascinated by the human custom. Over a hastily assembled, lopsided cake. With chocolate frosting.  
_How much booze can I scrape up aboard ship?_ "Hey crew." They all look up, with wide eyes. "What's up?" 

“Hey, Commander, how come we had to hear it second-hand?” 

She shrugs, “Well, we aren’t flying a kindergarten here, Joker. You think we ought to add show and tell, too?” _Ah, damn it. There come the sad eyes._

“You’d think a birth was something to celebrate.” Wrex grumbles as he reaches around Tali to pick up a bottle of something labeled with a slash through a pyjak.

“It is. This is real nice of you all.” 

“Hey, did we miss it?” Kaidan has a small case of something under his arm, Garrus right behind him with several green metallic bottles. _My heroes, thank god._

Ashley shakes her head at him. “Nope, she just came down. I’m gonna light ‘em. It’s not a birthday without candles. Can’t you run some sort of subroutine to get us around the fire safety protocol?”

“I’m on it.” He's at the terminal, juggling the case to tap out a command. “Go for it.”

Ashley has an old fashioned lighter emblazoned with a nearly rubbed out Alliance logo to light five skinny green wax candles about the length of Shepard’s thumb. “Where’d you even find candles, Chief?”

“Had them in my go-bag. We had a party before I left home the last time. I kept them for…well, you know.”

“Yeah.” She lets them sing, “For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” Kaidan’s singing voice almost as velvet and warm as his eyes, Joker has a surprisingly sweet tenor. Tali and Garrus join in on the second chorus, adding a startling warm vibrato to the old standard. 

And then she blows them out. 

The last time she blew out candles…she turned five.

She cuts the cake with the knife Wrex hands her while Liara pesters Ashely into telling her why they sang that song instead of the one she's heard in human history vids and then insists that Ash explain what “royalties” means. Tali produces a similar treat for the dextro crew and Kaidan passes out beer, God love him. And a few minutes later she’s almost sidled out of the room when he pops up and asks, “You want another, Shepard? Birthday girl ought to….I mean…there’s one left. Not that you’re a girl.” He stutters to a stop and Shepard can't help her grin. 

“Thanks, Kaidan. I appreciate you breaking out your stash.”

“There’s another half case for the on duty crew to split later. It’s a good cause. Not every day your…your Commander has a birthday.” 

“No, I guess not.” She clinks the mouth of her new bottle against the one he's still nursing and he smiles at her, a little side smile that warms her as much as the lager. She glances around at them all.

Her crew. Her Normandy. _Dammit, Anderson._

“Did you make a wish, Commander?” Chakwas is asking from the table where she's helping Ashley lick the frosting from the ends of her keepsake candles.

Shepard shakes her head and takes another swallow. “Nope…couldn’t think of another thing to wish for. C’mon, let’s finish off that cake.”


End file.
